Eleanor Barlow talks to a farmer who reinvented his business 11 years ago – by buying a herd of buffalo

VISITORS to the North Wales countryside normally expect to see sheep and cows grazing in picturesque fields.

But tourists heading to Halkyn are more likely to see a herd of 150 Asian water buffalo.

In 2000 farmer John Sigsworth decided to change his traditional dairy farm to specialise in buffalo.

He said: “We wanted a change and to diversify.

“Originally we bought the buffalos to milk, but the meat took off so well that we decided to concentrate on that instead.”

John, who has had his farm in Halkyn for more than 30 years, started off with 40 buffalo, but now has a herd of about 150.

He told the Chronicle the meat is similar to ‘old-fashioned beef’.

“Buffalo eat nothing but grass, whereas cows now eat concentrated foods, so the buffalos are a bit rougher and tougher and like cows would have been 40-50 years ago,” said John.

Buffalo are also genetically different to cows, with pregnancies lasting 10 and a half months rather than nine.

John said: “It is a job to get them to calve within 12 months, but apart from that we just leave them to get on with it.

“They are easy to keep and they don’t have any disease problems or foot problems.

“They are fairly docile as well, although they are very strong.”

About 50 calves are born on the farm every year, and it is also home to about 120 sheep and six sows.

The buffalo meat is sold at farmers’ markets and food festivals – including the upcoming Mold Food and Drink Festival – as well as from a shop on the farm.

John believes keeping his ‘food miles’ down is important.

“We have a butchery on-site and the abattoirs we use are in Wrexham and Denbigh, so about 11 miles,” he said.

“We try and keep everything local, the furthest away we sell is Nantwich.

“A lot of the meat which is sold in supermarkets is transported from one end of the country to the other and then back again.

“It doesn’t make sense and it’s not good for local butchers.”

John has exhibited at the Mold festival since it was set up six years ago.

“It’s a nice one to do because it’s our home festival,” he said. “It’s a great shop window for us. We’ve been around for 11 years now, but some people are still quite surprised to see us selling buffalo meat.

“We have a lot of customers who try buffalo for the first time and keep coming back once they’ve tried it. One customer told us they hadn’t eaten beef since trying buffalo!”